"If 'Tall Glass Of Water' is meant to be a song of himself, as it were, Darcy visualizes it in terms that would be familiar to Walt Whitman, and that are consistent with the concept of Saturday Night: As an artist, he contains multitudes." -- NPR Music's "Songs We Love"

There’s a line in “Tall Glass of Water,” the lead single off Tim Darcy’s debut solo album, SaturdayNight, where Darcy asks himself a rhetorical question: “if at the end of the river, there is more river, would you dare to swim again?” He barely pauses before the answer: “Yes, surely I will stay, and I am not afraid. I went under once, I’ll go under once again.” That river shows up again and again in the lyrics of Saturday Night. It’s about how wonderful it can be to feel in touch with that inner current. It’s about how good it feels to make art, and how terrifying; how you don’t always get to choose whether you’re swimming or drowning as we grow and move through life, just that you’re going to keep diving in. That’s the impulse that links all the songs on Saturday Night.

Each track on Saturday Night is woven to the next in a winding, complex journey through a charged, continuous present. Darcy's unmistakable, commanding voice and lyrical phrasing are, as they are in Ought, vital to the entire affair. He over-enunciates. He whoops and croons. He makes damn sure you know there are no tossed-off lines here. At the same time there is an evident softness in these songs and an accompanying musicality. While there are moments that take their strength in sparseness, Darcy is unafraid to paint in economic technicolor as his wry lyricism floats nimbly upon chorused guitars and the occasional synthetic artifact.

The album title comes in part from the nights and weekends when it was recorded: a six month period that overlapped with the recording of Ought’s second album where Darcy gathered with friends to record in the storage room of a commercial studio in Toronto. The result sounds like a person exploring his voice in a room full of people he trusts: joyful, shot through with struggle, unfakeably honest. Intimate and rollicking as a house show, delicate as a late-night phone call.

Born in Arizona, Tim Darcy made his way to both Colorado and New Hampshire before ending up in Montreal where he found university, the city’s rich DIY scene, and the other members of Ought. He began writing poetry as early as the third grade and performed often, and his first attempts at songwriting were him feeling around in the dark to set some of them to music. In Montreal, he played in various projects, his and others, before settling into a groove as the singer and guitarist of Ought.

Tim Darcy’s Saturday Night is out February 17th via Jagjaguwar. All iTunes preorders come with an instant grat download of debut single, “Tall Glass of Water,” presented today with the video directed by Jonny Look. Darcy and band will tour North America throughout February and March (all dates are below).

Savannah Stopover Music Festival Announces First Wave Of Bands for 2017 Festival

Kishi Bashi, Lee Fields & The Expressions and Jeff The Brotherhood Top List of Confirmed Acts

FOR IMMEDIATE Release: Tuesday, November 15th, 2016-Savannah, GA

Savannah Stopover Music Festival announced today the first wave of bands confirmed to play the annual indie music festival which will take place March 9th-11th, 2017 in Savannah’s Historic District.

The 3-day festival, heading into it’s 7th year, is known for it’s affordability and focus on up and coming acts. The festival takes place the weekend before the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, TX and helps support bands as they make their way down I-95 to Austin. Forty bands have been confirmed from across the U.S. including acts from England (Wreckless Eric), Wales (Chain of Flowers), New Zealand (Kane Strang) and Puerto Rico (AJ Dávila).

Kishi Bashi will kick off the festival with a headline performance at the festival’s Opening Night Event on March 9th at Ships of The Sea’s North Garden in Savannah. The former member of of Montreal released his 3rd album Sonderlust on September 16th, 2016 to wide critical acclaim; with NPR stating “Throughout the album Ishibashi broadens his palette, rendering his sound ever more frantic, unpredictable, digital and danceable.”

Classic soul and funk icons Lee Fields & the Expressions, fresh off of their highly lauded November release, Special Night, will headline Friday, March 11th.

The festival, which takes place across numerous venues in Savannah’s historic district, “offers an affordable and walkable experience where you’re likely to see a slew of fantastic

bands before they break out of the pack” says Kayne Lanahan, the festival’s CEO and Founder, adding “it’s very unique in today’s world of high priced concert tickets and mainstream headliner-driven festivals. If you haven’t heard of a lot of these bands yet, that’s the whole point.”

The next wave of confirmed acts, including additional headliners and local Savannah Bands, will be announced in January. More than 80 bands are expected to perform at the 2017 festival, selected from the more than 700 who submit to play. Bands looking to submit can do so at SonicBids.

“That MSG tastes good to meI disagree with all your warningsIt can't be true that they use glue toKeep the noodles stuck together”

So sings Courtney Barnett about her love affair with Mi Goreng instant soup in “Three Packs A Day”, another sublime song about the simply mundane from the young Australian songwriter who has taken the world by storm.

It begins our Savannah Stopover mid-year playlist of the best new music, one that started off coed but ended up all female. There were so many female artists making the list that we decided to go “all in” because the women are seriously kicking ass this year.

This isn’t a new thing, women have been dominating commercial country and pop for years but it is a growing trend in indie music, long the perceived bastion of predominantly white, bearded, flanneled men. We listen with our ears not our eyes and in this day and age, we really shouldn't have to make any gender distinctions; no one ever says “here's a great new band that's all male”. But I think this class of 2016 females deserves some strong attention and if separating them out helps that, let's do it!

What do these women have in common? They're all gifted songwriters and lyricists and they’re fierce, often without ever having to raise their voice, and in our opinion, most possess a singular voice. Within the first several seconds, they are identifiable. They sound like no other. That's a harder qualifier than you might think until you start putting it to the test. In many cases it applies as much to lyrical style as it does to musical style. When Eleanor Friedberger opens her mouth, I know it's her. Instantly. I'm not scratching my head and saying “wait, wait, who is this?”. Ditto for Beth Orton, Thao Nguyen, Haley Fohr (aka Circuit Des Yeux) and of course Barnett, to name just a few. (Caveat: you won't find any Beyoncé/Kesha/Adele here, this playlist’s for the curious explorer of the non-mainstream.)

While the list skews to American artists, the rest of the world is in on the trend and in some markets leading it: Australia (Barnett and Julia Jacklin), New Zealand ( Yumi Zouma, Tash Sultana), England (Beth Orton- who's been at this for years!, She Drew The Gun, Alice Jemima), Spain (Hinds), Denmark (Agnes Obel) and Ecuador (Maria Usbeck).

Many of these artists may be new to you; there's a slew of newcomers who made the cut, many of whom are garnering much deserved praise -Lucy Dacus, Margaret Glaspy, Japanese Breakfast, Big Thief, Tash Sultana, Julia Jacklin, etc.

I hope you love it as much as we loved putting it together and that you find a few new favorites ~~from folk to punk and back.

Special thanks to Peter Robaudo who kicks ass every day helping with all things Savannah Stopover and MusicFile Productions and loves female artists as much as I do. He helped me both cull down and add to this list.

Son Little, Highly Suspect and Wreckless Eric To Make Savannah Debuts

Son Little

For Immediate ReleaseSavannah, GA- April 12th, 2015

MusicFile Productions, parent company of Savannah Stopover Music Festival, announced today a slate of 6 concerts for April and May, 2016. The concerts, which will take place across several downtown venues, feature a mix of new and returning talent to the market.

Roadkill Ghost Choir will kick things off with a headline show at The Jinx on Saturday, April 23rd. The band will be debuting some new material from their forthcoming album. Local favorites Nightingale News will open.

Emerging fully-formed from the desolate heart of Central Florida, Roadkill Ghost Choir make unsettling, powerful American rock, Tom Petty by way of Radiohead and Cormac McCarthy. Set against Kiffy Meyer’s ghostly steel pedal, singer and main songwriter Andrew Shepard triumphantly conjures an allegorical American landscape of drifters, specters and violent saints. Andrew’s brothers Maxx (drums) and Zach (bass) Shepard round out the rhythm section, and Stephen Garza handles lead guitar. Roadkill Ghost Choir last played Savannah in September 2014 at Revival Fest.

Caleb Caudle returns to Savannah after his highly-praised performance at Revival Fest 2015 for an Opry Show at Trinity United Methodist Church on Thursday, April 28th. His most recent release, Carolina Ghost, has earned high praise from Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, American Songwriter, The Bitter Southerner and many others.

Following in the tracks of Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard and George Strait, Caleb Caudle makes pure country music rooted in the genre's glory days, back when melody, mood and message ruled the roost. It's not contemporary country-pop, nor is it part of any underground outlaw scene. Instead, Caudle's music finds the middle ground between the classic twang of late-Seventies/early-Eighties country and the dusty stomp of modern-day Americana.

Jason Bible of The Trainwrecks will open the night with a solo set. This is an all ages show.

Wreckless Eric makes his Savannah debut on Sunday, May 1st on the outside porch at Congress Street Social Club. This is a free, all-ages show.

Wreckless Eric began his recording life on Stiff Records in 1977 with his enduring hit “Whole Wide World” when he was little more than an ex-teenage art student. Eventually he sidestepped the mechanics of stardom to become Britain’s biggest underground household name, much loved and much misunderstood. He lives in bohemian splendour in upstate New York in what he describes as a budget pop star home where he continues to record other-worldly pop records. Onstage he hides behind nothing, he tells the truth with big open chords, squalls of feedback, lilting enchantment, bizarre stories and backchat.

Highly Suspect make their Savannah debut Wednesday, May 11th at The Jinx fresh off of their two Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album (Mister Asylum) and Best Rock Song for “Lydia”. The Brooklyn based trio (by way of Cape Cod) quickly rose to fame on the strength of their live shows- more than 800 since 2009. Often compared to Queens of The Stone Age and Band of Skulls, look for a sold out night of hard rock, propelled along by tour mates and opener Slothrust. WFXH Rock 106.1 is the official sponsor of the show and will be giving away 5 pairs of tickets beginning May 2nd. They will broadcast their afternoon show live from The Jinx from 4-7pm on May 11th.

Son Little will also be making his Savannah debut on Saturday, May 13th at The Jinx.

Blending elements of acoustic blues, vintage soul, and conscious hip-hop into a mixture that's expressive yet deeply personal, Son Little is the alias of Aaron Livingston, a singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter who divides his time between his own music and collaborating with others. He was born to a preacher and a teacher in Los Angeles, where he learned how to listen and how to play before moving east to New York and New Jersey. He dropped in and out of schools in Manhattan then Philadelphia, and there he collaborated with acts like The Roots and RJD2. He first planted his flag as Son Little with his highly praised EP, Things I Forgot, followed in 2015 by his self-titled eponymous album. He’s earned high praise from The New York Times, NPR Music, Rolling Stone and more. Fresh off tours with Leon Bridges and Shakey Graves, Son Little makes his Savannah debut Friday, May 13th at The Jinx. Tickets for this show go on sale Friday, April 15th.

Chrome PonyFresh off their performance at Savannah Stopover last month, Chrome Pony return for a headlining show on Thursday, May 19th along with Savannah favorites Wet Socks and Garden Giant.

Call it fate, call it karma, call it supreme chance. Tyler and Kyle Davis of Chrome Pony are brothers born on the same date two years apart. This magic thread, strung between them, allows them to unleash overwhelming volleys of sonic power and control with spine-tingling precision. Embracing the hip-shake and the head-bang, picking and choosing from punk, psych, garage, world music and rock n’ roll, Tyler and Kyle have used the intervening years to add dimensions and secrets to their tunes.

MusicFile Productions, LLC is a Georgia based concert promotion and event entertainment company which producesSavannah Stopover Music Festival,Revival Fest, as well as local and regional concerts, and music curation for private and corporate events.

We're almost into festival week with our last digest before Opening Night! We want to get you some info on where to pick up passes and our opening night event (and of course band news!). #HAPPYSTOPOVER

Festival HQ & Ticketing-110 W. Broughton St.

Festival Headquarters is where everyone will start their Stopover journey! Here is not only the place where you buy or pickup your festival passes – visiting the HQ you can buy festival merchandise, grab a pocket guide, ask a question or find out more about anything Stopover!

Online Ticket Purchases & Will Call tickets will be available for pickup at Festival Headquarters beginning March 5th, 2016.

Lucette

It's week 7 of the digest and only 13 days away from Opening Night of the festival! Here's what we've been up to:

This past Wednesday we announced the addition of a special DavidBowie Tribute Concert to the festival’s 2016 Lineup. Capsula, whose members hail from Argentina/Spain, will perform The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Marsin its entirely at Trinity United Church on Friday, March 11th at 11pm. You won't want to miss this!

Chrome Pony

Acid Dad

For a band that was randomly conceived at a drag show in 2014, they take their craft pretty seriously. Check out their debut EP, Let's Plan A Robbery. - Consequence of Sound

New Madrid

The Athens band released a video for their new track, "Knots", from their upcoming album, magnetkingmagnetqueen, out on Normaltown Records 4/29. USA Today has the premiere.

Lucy Dacus

This girl is on fire! She just released her debut album, No Burden, which received a 7.8/10 from Pitchfork, is Spins's Album of The Week with an 8.0/10.0. The album premiered on Noisey:

Mothers

Paste Magazine brought in Kristine Leschper, who started Mothers as a solo project in 2013 but now serves as the 4-piece's vocalist/songwriter/guitarist. Check out the first video of three below:

Dosti Music Project

If you haven't checked this super cool collaboration between Indian, Pakistani and American musicians, please read the great article on the New York Times Tribune. You'll be able to see them perform at 3pm, Saturday 3/12 at Trinity United. Meet the 2016 musicians in this video:

Yuck

Yuck's fathers plead you to buy their children's new record. You don't want to disappoint them!

RA RA RIOT

YUCK

Their new album, Stranger Things, is out on February 29th via Mamé Records, but NPR has first listen a week early!

MOTHERS

Same release date as Yuck (2/26). Their debut album on Grand Jury, When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired, is streaming a week early on NPR too! It's on repeat here at our offices!

WOLKOFF

Her debut album, Without Shame, is out on April 15th. But here is a taste of what's to come with a fresh new track called "The Homecoming". Premiere and more details on Noisey.

HONDURAS

"Hollywood" is another brand new song from Honduras' upcoming EP, The Gathering Rust, out on March 4th. Premiere and more info on NME.

JEFF ZAGERS

The Fader is showing some local love with a premiere of Savannah's own Jeff Zagers. The track in question is a cover of Arthur Russel's "Your Motion Says", from his upcoming Americana covers album, All For The Love Of Sunshine, out April 15th.

BIG UPS

New music video for their track, "National Parks". NPR has it up with a nice short review from Bob Boilen.

PRINCE RAMA

Our favorite sister duo are churning out singles before the release of Xtreme Now on March 4th (Carpark Records). New track, "Your Life In The End", is out on Huh Magazine.

It’s been a really busy week in the Stopover world. Here's what we've been to:

We released the full schedule yesterday! If you haven't already checked it out, what are you waiting for?! We used Sched again this year so you can personalize your own schedule and share it with your friends. Go make your schedule now!

We were also super excited to announce 10 new additions to the lineup. Please check out the newest members to the Stopover ‘16 family:

We've also released the full list of all our fabulous official venues for this year, where we'll hold one of our signature Stopover In The Yard's on Saturday afternoon, March 12th. We’ve got a map if you get lost, just visit our Venue page.

Ra Ra Riot

With Ra Ra Riot's album set to drop a week from today they've released a new track, "Foreign Lovers". More on Stereogum.

SALES

We're excited to have SALES back in Savannah as their first stop on their upcoming tour. If you didn't catch the duo at Hang Fire for Stopover '15, Saturday 3/12 is your second chance. They've just released a new song, which may just be their best yet! More at My Old Kentucky Blog.

Ancient Warfare

The lead singer/guitarist, Echo Wilcox, has roots here in Savannah. In 2010, she began this project while attending SCAD for photography and motion graphics. Take a look at their haunting Tiny Desk Concert Audition.

Futurebirds

Our Athens' faves did a killer live performance for Oregon Public Broadcasting, and they got it all on video! They also did a Jam In The Van (also sponsored by our favorite beer, Lagunitas!). Check out their sessions:

Blitzen Trapper

With their new album out, All Across The Land, they've been getting some great reviews. Here's a great recent one from Relix Magazine.

We've got some fresh new video and song premieres along with a kickass debut album release. Details below:

Mass Gothic

Noel Heroux, formerly of Hooray For Earth, releases his self-titled debut album under the new project Mass Gothic. The record is a Stopover Staff favorite, spinning on repeat at our offices. Enjoy!New Record: Mass Gothic (Self-titled)Label: Sub PopRelease Date: 2/5/16For the exclusive Full Album stream premiere go to Noisey.

Prince Rama

With their upcoming album, Xtreme Now, right around the corner (out on 3/4 via Carpark) they share with us a new dreamy single "Slip Into Nevermore." More info on Brooklyn Vegan.

Sun Club

Beverly

Premiered a fresh new video for "Victoria" which was co-written and features Kip Berman of Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Check out the video below directed by Jacob Graham, synth player and songwriter in The Drums. Original article on Gorilla vs. Bear.

Honduras

Killer new track from Honduras premiered on NME yesterday. Their upcoming EP, The Gathering Rust, is set to drop on March 4. Read more at NME.

Dear Tracks & New Madrid

Impose Magazine featured both of these bands in their "Week in Pop" series. Check out what they had to say about New Madrid and Dear Tracks.